Revelations
by Starrika
Summary: A missing moment. When Lindsay changed from someone to flirt with to something special, even if Danny didn't realize it.


Danny blinked and shook his head, trying to stop the numbers and letters from blurring on the paperwork before him. He took off his glasses, rubbing the bridge of his nose tiredly, and wishing he hadn't been called to this double homicide at three in the morning.

It was almost midnight, and he'd made a pitiful amount of progress. Glancing across the room, Lindsay seemed to be having as much trouble focusing as he. There was that missing piece, always that fucking piece that made cases like this the hardest ones to solve. Sometimes, that hardest piece was sleep, and Danny knew he was going to feel like a dumbass if Mac looked at his notes in the morning with a raised eyebrow.

The self-retribution wasn't helping him focus, though, and neither was glancing across the room to see how Lindsay was progressing. She had taken to rubbing the back of her neck and frowning – a sure sign she was frustrated and tired.

With a groan, Danny stood, stretching his back and wincing when he heard it pop. "I need a break. Want some coffee, Montana?"

She sighed and looked at him, though it seemed to take her a moment to focus on what he'd said. "Oh, yeah. Coffee's good."

"You almost managed a full sentence there," he teased, gesturing to the door. "C'mon. At least the couch in the break room is better than this."

Lindsay nodded, moving more sluggishly than he as she rose from her stool. "Ugh. I miss my futon."

"Futon? At this point I'll take whatever bed I can get, even if it's tables in the morgue."

Lindsay giggled, flopping herself onto the couch and stretching, leaving no place for him to sit. "You might have to settle for that, 'cause I'm not moving."

Danny handed her a cup of coffee before grabbing one of his own. "They don't teach you to share in Montana?" he teased, pulling her legs up from the couch and taking a seat. It felt wonderful to sit on something other than plastic.

Her legs were back in his lap before they hit the floor. "No, they didn't. Got a problem with that, Messer?" she asked, mouth quirked.

He couldn't help but smile back. "Nah."

She'd fallen asleep in five minutes, coffee tipping precariously near her chest before he removed it from her weak grasp and placed it on the floor. She had mascara smudged under her eyes and her hair was half out of the ponytail she put it in halfway through the day, but he couldn't help admiring her.

It's not that he meant to stare, but Lindsay had been totally different than he expected her to be. Each case they worked together made him respect her a little more, for she knew her stuff, but she seemed to love doing it, too. Most times, she doesn't even complain when she has to go dumpster diving, which is something you can never get used to, in his humble opinion.

But Lindsay just smiles, or rolls her eyes, and does it anyway, though if she protested, he'd probably stop giving her all the shit jobs now. She doesn't, though, and Danny's impressed, even if he still calls her Montana and acts like she's a rookie.

They get along surprisingly well, despite everyone in the lab placing bets on when they'd kill each other. They'd fallen into a routine around each other – a routine of name calling and one-upping, and Danny wasn't quite sure whether he was teasing her or flirting with her sometimes.

Mostly, he just told himself he was being friendly.

When he finished his coffee, he looked at his watch and figured he should probably wake her. It wasn't much of a nap, but they had a case to work. Easing himself from the couch, he threw away the Styrofoam cup before tugging her ponytail.

"Break's over, Montana." He couldn't help but smile as she groaned and pulled herself upright on the couch. Her coffee was cold, but she drank it anyway in one gulp, and Danny wondered if she did shots the same way.

"Sure know how to wake a lady, Messer," she replied, pulling the hair back into a ponytail.

He pulled open the door to the break room with a showy gesture and a smirk. "After you, lady."

She shoved him on the way out, but she was smiling, too.

When they were back in the lab, he told himself to focus, thinking that the coffee should have helped more. He couldn't help looking at Lindsay, though, chewing on a pen in concentration. She looked dead tired, and he was sure he looked like shit, too.

There was something about her, though, Danny thought, even when she was tired. Something different from other women he'd seen before. Something _real_. It was something he wasn't sure he wanted to think about. Telling himself it must be Montana, he turned back to the file at hand, trying to focus once again.


End file.
